Wednesday, November 30, 2005

You've got to know the right story to tell them

I just saw Walk the Line, a movie about Arkansas music legend Johnny Cash. At one point as a boy he's laying in bed with his brother who's reading the Bible. When he says to his brother "how is it that you read and remember all those stories in there?" his brother responds "Well JR, I wanna be a preacher someday, so I've got to know the Bible front and back. You can't help nowbody if you don't know the right story to tell them." So beautifully simple and poignant. If only we could see things as such. It makes me proud of all the Bible literate, although otherwise nearly illiterate, self-trained backwoods Baptist preachers in my family. Theology aside, this represents the best of the congregationalist evangelical Christian upbringing from which I come. Although I find myself in a Church they would barely recognize, I think that they were offering salvation to the many and pastoring to the best of their ability the sheep entrusted to their care. May I one day be worthy of calling myself their descendant, and May their memory be eternal.